When Will Tamil Nadu BJP Chief K Annamalai Return To Chennai?

BJP Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai, currently in London for a political studies program at Oxford University, is set to return to Tamil Nadu on November 28.

After his return, Annamalai will attend a BJP event at the party headquarters, Kamalalayam, in Chennai on November 29, and participate in another event in Coimbatore on December 1.

Annamalai embarked on his fellowship course at Oxford on August 28, taking a brief pause from his political duties. During his absence, the BJP's national leadership established a six-member coordination committee to manage party activities in Tamil Nadu, led by senior leader H. Raja as convenor. Other committee members include M. Chakravarthy, Prof. K. Kanagasabapathi, M. Muruganandam, Prof. Raama Sreenivasan, and S.R. Sekhar.

Under Annamalai's leadership, the Tamil Nadu BJP has drawn significant public attention by raising key issues, such as drug problems and the Coimbatore bomb blast, even though it did not secure any seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections but achieved a double-digit vote share.

Annamalai also participated in the Young Leaders Forum in London alongside notable figures, including singer Armaan Malik and London Deputy Mayor for Business Rajesh Agrawal, marking the start of UK-India Week 2023.

He spoke about the Western media's perception of Indian democracy. He said, "Democracy is heavily intertwined in our DNA," said Annamalai, in response to a question about perceptions of Indian democracy in the West.

"Indian politics operates in an Indian way, to evaluate with a Western lens will naturally fail... If anyone wants to protest in India, they can block a highway for nine months. That is how deep our democracy is. We allow our protesters to do that, even Britain does not," he added.

"If someone thinks dual citizenship isn't possible, I'll say wait for another few years. We are open to listening to you, we will listen to you," Annamalai said in response to another question.